Jane Schmidt-Wilk

Constructs, methods, and measures for researching spirituality in organizations

Clarifying constructs, methods, and measures for systematic research can advance knowledge about spirituality in organizations. In this paper, we define constructs of pure spirituality, applied spirituality, and spiritual development. We survey research methods for exploring spirituality in organizations – including not only objective studies but also subjective experience for personal growth. We consider five indications of spirituality – health, happiness, wisdom, success, and fulfillment – and identify research instruments for each based on measures used in prior studies of Maharishi Mahesh Yogis Transcendental Meditation program. Research is seen as valuable for assessing the practical applications of spirituality for the individual, organization, and society.

Higher education for higher consciousness : Maharishi university of management as a model for spirituality in management education

The system of education at Maharishi University of Management (MUM) provides a model for management educators seeking to understand and teach spirituality. It locates transcendental consciousness—“pure spirituality”—at the basis of the universe and the human mind, experienced through the Transcendental Meditation (TM) program. Disciplines are taught as expressions of one unified field of consciousness. This integrated approach develops students who express “applied spirituality”— acting for the positive transformation of the quality of life for all. Research on educational outcomes at MUM gives evidence of cognitive, affective, and moral development in students. The authors offer suggestions for educators at other institutions.

Developing consciousness in organizations: The transcendental meditation program in business

This paper reviews retrospective, prospective, and case research on workplace applications of Maharishis Transcendental Meditation technique for developing consciousness and human potential. The distinctive psychophysiological state of restful alertness produced by the Transcendental Meditation technique appears to improve employee health, well-being, job satisfaction, efficiency and productivity, in turn influencing organizational climate, absenteeism, and financial performance.

Consciousness-Based Management Development

Abstract Training in meditation is being introduced into corporations worldwide, yet analyses of programs are rare. Case studies document the experiences of members of three top management teams who learned the Transcendental Meditation program in corporate-supported programs and suggest a new trend in management development: Con-sciousness-BasedSM Management Development. This approach, which allows managers to access inner latent capacities, appears to meet criteria described in the literature for an effective management and team development program. The comprehensive changes reported are said to result from unfolding the organizing power of Natural Law in the awareness of the manager.

Evidence: Where Scholarship Meets Artistry

Teaching has both artistic and scientific aspects. The art of teaching appears in the creation of new teaching materials as well as in “those magical moments when instructor and students interact with a power and grace so that all are wiser for the exchange” (Gallos, 1997, p. 445; see also Gallos, 2009). The science of teaching comes in systematically applying principles of good teaching across a variety of courses (Whetten, 2007; Whetten, Johnson, & Sorenson, 2009) and in determining whether one’s creations have been effective in helping students learn. These two complementary qualities, art and science, are expressed in the articles in this issue. Each article displays the creativity of its authors, who have designed classroom innovations to help students learn particular concepts and/or skills. In addition, each article displays the systematic and disciplined thinking of the scientist whose intuition, creativity and insight are validated by evidence of the activity’s effectiveness. While JME is well known for its focus on creative and innovative teaching materials, this issue focuses on the scientific side of teaching and learning in management, particularly on the use of evidence in our scholarly work. I first discuss the Journal’s expectations regarding the use of evidence and then describe the five articles in this issue in this context.

Spiritual dimensions of entrepreneurship in Transcendental Meditation and TM‐Sidhi program practitioners

A qualitative study explored features of personal development in a group of entrepreneurs who were long‐term practitioners of the Transcendental Meditation and TM‐Sidhi program. Subjects reported that their meditation practice enabled them to cultivate inner experiences, which they described as being anchored to an unshakeable, transcendental inner spiritual core. These entrepreneurs reported that this inner experience led to enhanced intuition and to broad awareness that embraced the wider interests of the community and environment. Findings are discussed with reference to prior scholarship about spirituality in entrepreneurs. This exploratory study contributes to understanding the mechanics through which spiritual values and behaviors might become more fully realized in the workplace.

TQM and the Transcendental Meditation program in a Swedish top management team

Drawing on a case study of a Swedish top management team whose members were practitioners of the Transcendental Meditation1 (TM1) technique, this article argues for developmental maturity as an important causal factor for effective TQM behaviors and success. It suggests that, first, increased maturity permits expression of more effective cognitive, affective, and team TQM behaviors, as indicated by improved team functioning and successful TQM planning, and, second, practice of the TM technique promotes the psychological maturation that allows a greater range of appropriate TQM behaviors. Thus, the inner development provided by the Transcendental Meditation program has practical value for managers engaged in TQM implementation.

Reflection: A Prerequisite for Developing the “CEO” of the Brain

Aprimary goal of management education is to develop students into managers who can think ahead, exercise good judgment, make ethical decisions, and take into consideration the implications of their proposed actions. These are mental functions that have their basis is the proper functioning of the human brain. It is a common understanding that education is supposed to develop the brain. But these intellectual goals of management education often seem far distant from the realities of a management class, at least an undergraduate class, where students often lack business experience, have difficulty making decisions, and may be unable to identify consequences of proposed solutions. In order to foster development of students’ brains, many educators believe that helping students learn to reflect, i.e., “to turn back one’s thoughts (upon anything), to consider, to contemplate” (Webster, 1961), will help them become better learners and managers as well. In educational parlance, reflection has come to mean a process of searching for connections between new information and past experiences, knowledge or feelings (Herman, 2000; Zull, 2002). The six articles in this issue of JME reflect that belief. The first four articles explore the role of reflection in student learning from a variety of perspectives, including course-long reflective practice, reflective learning journals, in the context of rekindling the sociological imagination, and as an element of a successful classroom-asorganization course. The issue closes with a paired set of two articles about philosophy and teaching philosophies—abstract products of reflection. Reflection is a popular topic in JME articles, so this theme is not new to our readers. But why is reflection so important? To answer that question and thereby create a context for these articles, I briefly summarize what is known about the role of reflection in learning relative to recent advances in brain science.

Awakening the Leader Within: Behavior Depends on Consciousness

Global business today (Lawler and O’Toole,1 Hitt,2 Stead, Stead, and Starik3) calls for every worker to set goals, influence other people, and create and implement process innovations that are cognizant of organizational systems, customers, and the natural environment—in effect, it calls for every member of the organization to be a leader. Can we rely on the leadership training and development programs today to cultivate such leaders? Despite society’s investment in the multibillion dollar leadership training industry, relatively little research exists on the effectiveness of leadership programs.4

Signature Pedagogy: A Framework for Thinking about Management Education

This issue is about cases and projects, two staples of management education. As I pondered the issue I wondered what my editorial could contribute that would be new about these two venerable management pedagogies. Then one day, while reading in the field of the scholarship of teaching and learning (SOTL), I came across a new and intriguing concept: signature pedagogy. Reading about signature pedagogies left me with some questions about education for the management profession. In this editorial I will explain some of what I have learned from my reading and then go beyond the articles in this issue to raise a bigger question for our profession. According to Lee Shulman, former President of the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching, signature pedagogies are distinctive ways of teaching that characterize the educational process in a specific profession (Shulman, 2005a, 2005b) or discipline (Gurung, Chick & Haynie, 2009). They are also pervasive, cutting across programs, courses and institutions that offer training for that profession. Familiar examples include the Socratic method of case analysis in law, clinical rounds in medicine, student teaching in education, and studio pedagogy in architecture. Signature pedagogies also “nearly always entail public student performance” (Shulman, 2005, p. 57), making students both visible and accountable to teachers and to peers. Although signature pedagogies may differ across disciplines, they share three overarching learning goals. Professional education is a synthesis of three apprenticeships: